In one corner: Sharon Osbourne. In the other corner: the talent agent accused by the MTV clan matriarch of purloining a $15,000 diamond necklace at a New Year's Eve bash.

The two renewed their grudge match last week at a Los Angeles sushi joint. Police are politely calling the matter "a dispute." Osbourne's camp is calling the incident a vicious assault. The agent's lawyer is calling the incident a spit-in-the-face attack.

Okay, let's sort this thing out.

On Thursday at 10:45 p.m., police were called to Koi, a feng shui-practicing Japanese restaurant in West Hollywood, California. They took reports from one Sharon Osbourne, 50, of Beverly Hills, and one Renee Tab, 26, of International Creative Management.

Osbourne claimed Tab hit her in the face; Tab claimed Osbourne spit in her face. No arrests were made, and police said they were not aware of either party requiring medical attention.

"They're just looking at it as a dispute," Officer Jack Richter of the Los Angeles Police Department said Monday.

On Friday, Osbourne's rep, Lisa Vega, had a slightly more blunt account of events.

Osbourne was "viciously assaulted" by Tab, Vega said in a statement, with the reality-TV star being "taken to the hospital and treated for her injuries."

Vega later told E! News Live that Osbourne sustained swelling from a punch to the face. At last word, Osbourne was at home "resting and recuperating."

In an interview with E!, Tab's attorney, Najila Brent, said Osbourne spit in her client's face, kicked her in the knee, called the young agent a variety of (impolite) four-letter words and sicced a bodyguard on the woman.

Vega dismissed Brent's accusations. "This is fantasy," she said. Specifically, she denied that Osbourne had a bodyguard present and that the mother of three, only recently declared cancer free following a bout with colon cancer, was in any condition to spar.

Brent said Tab is readying a restraining order and civil complaint against Osbourne. Vega said she has heard of neither.

The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office, the lucky department charged with sorting this thing out, had not received the case as of Monday morning. Earlier, a police spokesman said he expected the charges, if any, to be "on the low end of the misdemeanor scale."

Osbourne and Tab first crossed paths on New Year's Eve.

It was on that occasion that Osbourne and hubby Ozzy marked their 20th wedding anniversary with a Beverly Hills Hotel bash attended by hundreds of their closest friends. Tab attended the festivities, reportedly as the guest of one of Jack Osbourne's invites.

During the night, raffle tickets were issued to partygoers who tried their luck, and won, at casino games, such roulette and blackjack. Tab got her hands on a ticket, and when the raffle was held, got her hands on the prized diamond necklace.

Days later, the Osbournes filed a theft report with police, claiming Tab's win was bogus on account of the raffle was for invited guests only, and Tab wasn't an invited guest. Tab's employer, ICM, responded by saying she was, too. (We paraphrase.)

On Monday, the Beverly Hills Police Department, which handled that case, said the matter was documented and filed away, with the two parties left to resolve it privately.

According to Tab's attorney, Jack Osbourne talked to Tab at a party two weeks ago and said his mom wanted to apologize and put the incident behind them. (Vega said Jack Osbourne does not know Tab.)

Per Brent, the Koi incident began when Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne took a table next to Tab's and began staring at the agent. Tab called for the check, went to the bathroom and, upon attempting to leave the restaurant, found Sharon's party blocking the exit, with Sharon acidly declaring, "You again." That's when the punching and spitting either did or did not occur.

Unfortunately, none of this was captured by MTV for The Osbournes.

"This doesn't have anything at all to do with MTV," a network spokeswoman told the Los Angeles Times.

Of course not, it all has to do with that damn necklace

04-16-2003, 12:14 PM

Eden

Sure sounds like a publicity stunt to me.

06-13-2003, 05:37 AM

sp@ste

why is the good stuff never on tv. aren't they supposed to be taping these people? all the juicy stuff is conviently, not taped.